Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Art Journal

Large Dylusions journal with marks made in black paint

Covering up the mess

I kept at it, off and on for a few days

Okay, I still need to practice the mouth. Lots and lots of practice

The top photo is from Creative Jumpstart 2017, where we were to randomly draw some black lines, loops, circles, then fill in some of them with gesso, then paint. I did all of that. And what a hot mess it was. Just hated it. It is rare for me to cover pages in a journal, because I think it's important to go back and see what you were doing, how much progress you've made over the years. But the hot mess? No way I wanted anyone to see it, I hated it that much.

In one of Julie Fei-Fen Balzer's art journal videos, she explains how if she tapes in a fold-out page, she will add paint, stencils, and stamps to make sure the 3 pages meld in the final project. So I took a piece of canvas paper that I had used in a Seth Apter online class, cut it to size, and taped it to the journal pages I hated. That was my base. And then I did something I haven't done in a long time. Gave myself permission to have fun. Go with the flow, just add color and stamps, and hey! What's over here?

I like it. I'm happy with the big face, because she reflects how I feel at this moment in time. Kind of surprised, bewildered, curious.

The last photo is a water color drawing in another art journal I did this past Sunday. Not doing any more until I sit down and draw countless mouths. Over and over. Not comfortable with the mouth yet, and it shows. I have been using photos from Vanity Fair magazine to draw from. I recommend this. Great photography with wonderful shadows. You can learn a lot when you start with a good photograph.